Forgiveness
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Searching the Scriptures
David A. Bass, Rockford Church of Christ
Jehovah God is willing to forgive and forget our sins when we repent. One of the most difficult things is learning how to forgive others as God forgives us.
Sometimes people say things which hurt our feelings or they do something that brings pain into our lives. How do we react? What do we do?
Some are consumed with revenge; others hold a grudge, while others forgive and move on with their lives. One of the greatest Old Testament lessons centers around Joseph and is recorded in Genesis 37-45.
Joseph was despised by his brothers because their father showed favoritism toward him. On one occasion their father sent Joseph many miles away to check on his brothers who were tending the family’s sheep. On this occasion, his brothers decided to do away with their no good brother.
Instead of killing him, they sold him into slavery. They took his beautiful coat which his father had given him and dipped it into goat’s blood and deceived their father into thinking that he was dead. Young Joseph found himself a slave in the land of Egypt. God was with him! Many years later after Joseph had been appointed to the second highest office in the land, his brothers came to Egypt seeking food because of a severe famine. They did not recognize their younger brother.
Finally, Joseph revealed himself to them, and he showered them with love and affection. They feared that he would punish them, but Joseph had forgiven them long ago. I encourage you to take time to reread this beautiful narrative.
How would we have reacted if we had been in Joseph’s place? Joseph realized that holding a grudge would not benefit anyone. He forgave his brothers and held no ill will toward them. This is a lesson that we must learn. We must be willing to forgive others.
We must be forgiving to others in order that we might be forgiven. Jesus said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14,15).
God will not forgive us if we are unwilling to forgive others.
How does God forgive? Hebrews 8:12 says “their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” According to Luke 15:20-24 God treats us just like He did before we sinned. This should be our attitude.
We must learn to forgive from the heart. Jesus said, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).
When we truly forgive from the heart we forget. We do not bury the hatchet and leave the handle sticking out.
God has given us the perfect example of forgiveness. We read in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Because of our sins we deserve to be punished (Romans 6:23) but God, because of his great love (John 3:16), sent Jesus to die as the perfect sacrifice.
True forgiveness is never limited. The apostle Peter thought that seven times was enough to forgive anyone, but Jesus answered and said, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). Our forgiveness should be unlimited.
In order for us to live a truly happy life and please God we must learn to forgive. Remember, God will judge us all, and He will punish the evil doers (2 Corinthians 5:10). May we learn from Joseph and others in the Bible to truly forgive from the heart!
This will be my last column. I am teaching full-time online and working with the Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studies in Kingston, Jamaica. Eugene Jenkins, the preacher at Rockford Church of Christ, will be the new writer of this column. May God bless all of our readers and remember to “Search the Scriptures!”
